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England's junior or resident doctors
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have gone back to work today after five
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days of strikes. So what have they
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achieved? First, a massive slump in
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public support for industrial action.
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Polling shows that 52% of people opposed
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these strikes. That's compared to a
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majority supporting the doctor strikes
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last year. Labour health secretary Wes
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Streeting has called the strikes
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reckless and said the doctor's union,
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the BMA, are holding the country to
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ransom. Even the Doyen of left-wing
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journalism, Polytoinb, has written in
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the Guardian that the BMA are damaging
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sympathy for doctors and that their
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claims about pay are absurd. People are
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finally seeing the BMA for what it is, a
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militant trade union that never had any
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intention of making a deal, preferring
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to put patients lives at risks with
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industrial action. They even opposed
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measures to keep routine care going
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during the strike and refused multiple
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requests for doctors to cross picket
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lines in emergencies. The leadership of
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the BMA are frankly a disgrace to their
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profession. Second, these strikes have
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cost the economy 13 million pounds a
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day, but that's nothing compared to the
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BMA's completely unaffordable pay
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demands, 29%. Most workers have never
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even heard of a pay rise that big. It's
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a number they've concocted by selecting
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2008, the year of the financial crisis,
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as a baseline and then using an atypical
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measure of inflation. But it's a
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spirious argument anyway. No one is
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employed on the same terms as they were
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in 2008. Conditions have changed. We'd
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all like the economy to have grown at
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the rates it did before the crash. In
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fact, GDP per head would be £11,000 more
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had that been the case. But it's not. To
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his credit, the health secretary is
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standing firm on headline pay. But he is
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bending over backwards to find other
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ways to appease the BMA, offering them
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hot meals, new restrooms in hospitals,
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paying for exams, and wiping out student
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debt. And with deeply ironic timing,
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Labour have just announced a public
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inquiry into the so-called battle of
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Orgrieve. Another occasion when a
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militant trade union stood against
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ordinary workers and their elected
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government. That Labour want to rehash
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this decades old left-wing grievance
1:52
narrative tells you everything you need
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to know about where their instincts
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truly lie. Find out more about the
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doctor strike by visiting citym.com.
